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This paper introduces a system designed to generate explanations for the actions performed by an autonomous robot in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). Explainability in robotics, encapsulated within the concept of an eXplainable Autonomous Robot (XAR), is a growing research area. The work described in this paper aims to take advantage of the capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs) in performing natural language processing tasks. This study focuses on the possibility of generating explanations using such models in combination with a Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) method to interpret data gathered from the logs of autonomous systems. In addition, this work also presents a formalization of the proposed explanation system. It has been evaluated through a navigation test from the European Robotics League (ERL), a Europe-wide social robotics competition. Regarding the obtained results, a validation questionnaire has been conducted to measure the quality of the explanations from the perspective of technical users. The results obtained during the experiment highlight the potential utility of LLMs in achieving explanatory capabilities in robots., Comment: 26 pages, 15 Figures, 11 Tables. This paper is a preprint of an article submitted to the International Journal of Social Robotics

This paper presents an improved system based on our prior work, designed to create explanations for autonomous robot actions during Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). Previously, we developed a system that used Large Language Models (LLMs) to interpret logs and produce natural language explanations. In this study, we expand our approach by incorporating Vision-Language Models (VLMs), enabling the system to analyze textual logs with the added context of visual input. This method allows for generating explanations that combine data from the robot's logs and the images it captures. We tested this enhanced system on a basic navigation task where the robot needs to avoid a human obstacle. The findings from this preliminary study indicate that adding visual interpretation improves our system's explanations by precisely identifying obstacles and increasing the accuracy of the explanations provided., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. This paper is a preprint of an article submitted to the Robot Trust for Symbiotic Societies (RTSS) workshop (ICRA 2024)

The livestock industry faces several challenges, including labor-intensive management, the threat of predators and environmental sustainability concerns. Therefore, this paper explores the integration of quadruped robots in extensive livestock farming as a novel application of field robotics. The SELF-AIR project, an acronym for Supporting Extensive Livestock Farming with the use of Autonomous Intelligent Robots, exemplifies this innovative approach. Through advanced sensors, artificial intelligence, and autonomous navigation systems, these robots exhibit remarkable capabilities in navigating diverse terrains, monitoring large herds, and aiding in various farming tasks. This work provides insight into the SELF-AIR project, presenting the lessons learned., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures

Symbolic reasoning systems have been used in cognitive architectures to provide inference and planning capabilities. However, defining domains and problems has proven difficult and prone to errors. Moreover, Large Language Models (LLMs) have emerged as tools to process natural language for different tasks. In this paper, we propose the use of LLMs to tackle these problems. This way, this paper proposes the integration of LLMs in the ROS 2-integrated cognitive architecture MERLIN2 for autonomous robots. Specifically, we present the design, development and deployment of how to leverage the reasoning capabilities of LLMs inside the deliberative processes of MERLIN2. As a result, the deliberative system is updated from a PDDL-based planner system to a natural language planning system. This proposal is evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively, measuring the impact of incorporating the LLMs in the cognitive architecture. Results show that a classical approach achieves better performance but the proposed solution provides an enhanced interaction through natural language., Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables, Submitted to IROS 2024

This paper describes the main research lines of the University of León Robotics Research group related with Educational Informatics. The 4 main research areas of the group are commented: Robotics, Interaction, Cybersecurity and ICT applied to Educational Processes, the latter will be transversal to all the others. Between the research lines related to educational informatics it is possible to find: educational robotics, haptics for education, tracking students evidences by using Learning Analytics and Educational Data Mining, Peer Assessment and Challenge based Learning and Collaborative Learning., El presente artículo describe las principales líneas de investigación del grupo de Robótica de la Universidad de León y especialmente detalladas aquellas relacionadas con la informática educativa. Se describe 4 áreas principales de investigación: Robótica, Interacción, Ciberseguridad y TICs aplicadas a la educación, donde ésta última será transversal al resto. Entre las líneas vinculadas a la informática educativa destacan algunas como la robótica educativa, el uso de hápticos para el aprendizaje de destrezas manuales, el seguimiento de los alumnos mediante la aplicación de analíticas de aprendizaje y minería de datos, la evaluación del trabajo en equipo, la coevaluación y el aprendizaje colaborativo y basado en retos.

This paper describes the main research lines of the University of León Robotics Research group related with Educational Informatics. The 4 main research areas of the group are commented: Robotics, Interaction, Cybersecurity and ICT applied to Educational Processes, the latter will be transversal to all the others. Between the research lines related to educational informatics it is possible to find: educational robotics, haptics for education, tracking students evidences by using Learning Analytics and Educational Data Mining, Peer Assessment and Challenge based Learning and Collaborative Learning., El presente artículo describe las principales líneas de investigación del grupo de Robótica de la Universidad de León y especialmente detalladas aquellas relacionadas con la informática educativa. Se describe 4 áreas principales de investigación: Robótica, Interacción, Ciberseguridad y TICs aplicadas a la educación, donde ésta última será transversal al resto. Entre las líneas vinculadas a la informática educativa destacan algunas como la robótica educativa, el uso de hápticos para el aprendizaje de destrezas manuales, el seguimiento de los alumnos mediante la aplicación de analíticas de aprendizaje y minería de datos, la evaluación del trabajo en equipo, la coevaluación y el aprendizaje colaborativo y basado en retos.

This paper describes the main research lines of the University of León Robotics Research group related with Educational Informatics. The 4 main research areas of the group are commented: Robotics, Interaction, Cybersecurity and ICT applied to Educational Processes, the latter will be transversal to all the others. Between the research lines related to educational informatics it is possible to find: educational robotics, haptics for education, tracking students evidences by using Learning Analytics and Educational Data Mining, Peer Assessment and Challenge based Learning and Collaborative Learning., El presente artículo describe las principales líneas de investigación del grupo de Robótica de la Universidad de León y especialmente detalladas aquellas relacionadas con la informática educativa. Se describe 4 áreas principales de investigación: Robótica, Interacción, Ciberseguridad y TICs aplicadas a la educación, donde ésta última será transversal al resto. Entre las líneas vinculadas a la informática educativa destacan algunas como la robótica educativa, el uso de hápticos para el aprendizaje de destrezas manuales, el seguimiento de los alumnos mediante la aplicación de analíticas de aprendizaje y minería de datos, la evaluación del trabajo en equipo, la coevaluación y el aprendizaje colaborativo y basado en retos.

In human-robot interaction situations, robot sensors collect huge amounts of data from the environment in order to characterize the situation. Some of the gathered data ought to be treated as private, such as medical data (i.e., medication guidelines), personal and safety information (i.e., images of children, home habits, alarm codes, etc.). However, most robotic software development frameworks are not designed for securely managing this information. This paper analyzes the scenario of hardening one of the most widely used robotic middlewares, Robot Operating System (ROS). The study investigates a robot’s performance when ciphering the messages interchanged between ROS nodes under the publish/subscribe paradigm. In particular, this research focuses on the nodes which manage cameras and LIDAR sensors, which are two of the most extended sensing solutions in mobile robotics, and analyzes the collateral effects on the robot's achievement under different computing capabilities and encryption algorithms (3DES, AES and Blowfish) to robot performance. The findings present empirical evidence that simple encryption algorithms are lightweight enough to provide cyber-security even in low-powered robots when carefully designed and implemented. Nevertheless, these techniques come with a number of serious drawbacks regarding robot autonomy and performance if they are applied randomly. To avoid these issues, we define a taxonomy that links the type of ROS message, computational units, and the encryption methods. As a result, we present a model to select the optimal options for hardening a mobile robot using ROS.

Generation of autonomous behavior for robots is a general unsolved problem. Users perceive robots as repetitive tools that do not respond to dynamic situations. This research deals with the generation of natural behaviors in assistive service robots for dynamic domestic environments, particularly, a motivational-oriented cognitive architecture to generate more natural behaviors in autonomous robots. The proposed architecture, called HiMoP, is based on three elements: a Hierarchy of needs to define robot drives; a set of Motivational variables connected to robot needs; and a Pool of finite-state machines to run robot behaviors. The first element is inspired in Alderfer's hierarchy of needs, which specifies the variables defined in the motivational component. The pool of finite-state machine implements the available robot actions, and those actions are dynamically selected taking into account the motivational variables and the external stimuli. Thus, the robot is able to exhibit different behaviors even under similar conditions. A customized version of the ``Speech Recognition and Audio Detection Test,'' proposed by the RoboCup Federation, has been used to illustrate how the architecture works and how it dynamically adapts and activates robots behaviors taking into account internal variables and external stimuli.

Generation of autonomous behavior for robots is a general unsolved problem. Users perceive robots as repetitive tools that do not respond to dynamic situations. This research deals with the generation of natural behaviors in assistive service robots for dynamic domestic environments, particularly, a motivational-oriented cognitive architecture to generate more natural behaviors in autonomous robots. The proposed architecture, called HiMoP, is based on three elements: a Hierarchy of needs to define robot drives; a set of Motivational variables connected to robot needs; and a Pool of finite-state machines to run robot behaviors. The first element is inspired in Alderfer's hierarchy of needs, which specifies the variables defined in the motivational component. The pool of finite-state machine implements the available robot actions, and those actions are dynamically selected taking into account the motivational variables and the external stimuli. Thus, the robot is able to exhibit different behaviors even under similar conditions. A customized version of the ``Speech Recognition and Audio Detection Test,'' proposed by the RoboCup Federation, has been used to illustrate how the architecture works and how it dynamically adapts and activates robots behaviors taking into account internal variables and external stimuli.

In human-robot interaction situations, robot sensors collect huge amounts of data from the environment in order to characterize the situation. Some of the gathered data ought to be treated as private, such as medical data (i.e., medication guidelines), personal and safety information (i.e., images of children, home habits, alarm codes, etc.). However, most robotic software development frameworks are not designed for securely managing this information. This paper analyzes the scenario of hardening one of the most widely used robotic middlewares, Robot Operating System (ROS). The study investigates a robot’s performance when ciphering the messages interchanged between ROS nodes under the publish/subscribe paradigm. In particular, this research focuses on the nodes which manage cameras and LIDAR sensors, which are two of the most extended sensing solutions in mobile robotics, and analyzes the collateral effects on the robot's achievement under different computing capabilities and encryption algorithms (3DES, AES and Blowfish) to robot performance. The findings present empirical evidence that simple encryption algorithms are lightweight enough to provide cyber-security even in low-powered robots when carefully designed and implemented. Nevertheless, these techniques come with a number of serious drawbacks regarding robot autonomy and performance if they are applied randomly. To avoid these issues, we define a taxonomy that links the type of ROS message, computational units, and the encryption methods. As a result, we present a model to select the optimal options for hardening a mobile robot using ROS.

Robots have been proposed as teaching assistants for children, but few studies have measured their effectiveness. This paper describes an experiment using the Baxter robot for teaching basic computational principles. We compare acquired abilities in students with a control group lectured by a human teacher in a traditional way. These abilities are focused on the application of computational principles to a different domain. Experiment description, data analysis and discussion of the results are also presented in this paper.

Context awareness is a key element in human-robot interaction. Being able to recognize user activity improves robot decision making when facing ordinary situations in home-like environments, as well as robot overall performance. In robotics applications, context recognition is usually performed using time of day and three subsystems: localization, perception, and dialog. The proposal described in this paper adds to this approach a fifth item to classify user activities: an environmental recognition component. The Environment Recognition Component (ERC) described in this article uses convolutional neuronal networks to classify ordinary acoustic signals present in indoor environments. This information is used by a second element, the Context Recognition Component (CRC) that infers the user activity using propositional calculus. The empirical evaluation of the framework presents an 86% of accuracy at ERC level, and the CRC inference system provides three times more contexts than the approach without ERC.

Robots have been proposed as teaching assistants for children, but few studies have measured their effectiveness. This paper describes an experiment using the Baxter robot for teaching basic computational principles. We compare acquired abilities in students with a control group lectured by a human teacher in a traditional way. These abilities are focused on the application of computational principles to a different domain. Experiment description, data analysis and discussion of the results are also presented in this paper.

Context awareness is a key element in human-robot interaction. Being able to recognize user activity improves robot decision making when facing ordinary situations in home-like environments, as well as robot overall performance. In robotics applications, context recognition is usually performed using time of day and three subsystems: localization, perception, and dialog. The proposal described in this paper adds to this approach a fifth item to classify user activities: an environmental recognition component. The Environment Recognition Component (ERC) described in this article uses convolutional neuronal networks to classify ordinary acoustic signals present in indoor environments. This information is used by a second element, the Context Recognition Component (CRC) that infers the user activity using propositional calculus. The empirical evaluation of the framework presents an 86% of accuracy at ERC level, and the CRC inference system provides three times more contexts than the approach without ERC.

Esta tesis plantea la posibilidad de unificar toda la información generada gracias a la observación diaria de fenómenos meteorológicos, distribuida entre diferentes organizaciones, en un Sistema de Gestión de Datos Meteorológicos definido como un “conjunto de aplicaciones que permiten la recopilación y gestión informatizada de datos meteorológicos”. Este trabajo propone, describe y evalúa un modelo de gestión de información meteorológica, denominado M3, diseñado para construir Sistemas de Gestión de Datos Meteorológicos. La especificación del modelo M3 incluye 6 elementos principales, P; V;D;R; U; Si, donde: P representa un conjunto de localizaciones geográficas; V, un conjunto de variables meteorológicas; D, el repositorio de datos meteorológicos; R, un conjunto de perfiles de acceso para acceder al repositorio; U, un conjunto de usuarios; y S, una serie de servicios que incluyen operaciones para introducir (Sin), consultar(Sout), modificar (Smod) y eliminar (Sdel) información en el repositorio, además de controlar el acceso (Sctrl) de los usuarios.

Esta tesis presenta nuestra contribución a cinco temas involucrados en robots socialmente asistenciales: fabricación de robots, control de robots, conciencia de contexto, navegación social y la interacción no verbal utilizando la realidad aumentada. Para lograr este objetivo, aplicamos un método de fabricación mixta basado en técnicas de prototipado rápido como el corte por láser, el montaje a presión y la carpintería en un material de contrachapado de álamo. Con el propósito de analizar los efectos de AR en el proceso de interacción, se propone el uso de aplicaciones AR para tareas de asistencia desde dos puntos de vista: de manera local, ofreciendo un sistema de control de medicamentos a bordo de nuestro robot; Y de manera remota, proporcionando un método para mejorar la teleoperación en usuarios no experimentados. Realizamos un conjunto de experimentos para analizar todas las propuestas presentadas en esta tesis. Los resultados de estos experimentos señalan la disposición de los adultos mayores a aceptar nuevas tecnologías en sus hogares. También muestran que AR es un elemento clave para mejorar la experiencia del usuario con robots en entornos de asistencia.

El Director de la cátedra, Vicente Matellán, ha estado acompañado por José Angel Hermida, Rector de la ULE, Ramón Ángel Fernández, Director de la Escuela de Ingenierías, Mª Victoria Seco, Vicerrectora de Campus, Agustín Rajoy Feijóo, Concejal de Hacienda y Nuevas Tecnologías del Ayuntamiento de León, y Agustina Piedrabuena, en representación de Telefónica.

When facing the problem of teaching the basis of robot control programming to computer sciences students, apart from the syllabus of the course, some other requeriments have to be considered as which is the most appropiate robot, and which are the rigt tools we have chosen for teaching robotics, focussing on the environment that support the practical assignements. We also analyze the reasons that make us chosse each of the tools, making special emphasis on the Libre requirement that we have imposed to every tool we are using. Finally, we present the results and opinions we have got from our students, and the lessons we have learned by using the Libre software approach

Conseguir que dispositivos autónomos se comuniquen de forma auto-organizada es un problema complejo que solo se puede abordar descomponiendolo en capas. El protocolo ADSR se ha diseñado para que dispositivos de este tipo, pero con capacidades limitadas (sensores, micro-robots, etc.) puedan crear redes ad-hoc inalámbricas. Para el funcionamiento de ADSR es necesaria la comunicación bracdcast fiable en el nivel de enlace, lo que exige desarrollar el protocolo LLRB. Este protocolo a su vez necesita minimizar las colisiones de tramos en el radiado fiable, para lo que se ha diseñado el algoritmo que se describe en el presente artículo. Además, se aportan las simulaciones realizadas para validar su utilidad, así como un resumen del resto de características de ADSR y LLRB para poder situar el algoritmo en su contexto

Research on Mobile robotics is in our opinion more focused on generating autonomous behaviors than on the development of basic technologies (locomotion, localization, navigation, etc.). However, this issue is really a complex problem where many technologies converge: artificial perception, electronics, even philosophy and there are no general theories generally accepted in the research community. Historically, Cybernetics was the first subjacent theory, then artificial intelligence techniques were the dominant paradigm used to try the solve the problem, in the 90s the focus turned to biology based systems, nowadays ethology has emerged again as the most promising theories to generate autonomous behavior. In this paper we want to present the most relevant concepts borrowed from ethology that have been successfully used in mobile robotics, such as the use of ethograms in robotic pets or the ideas of schemes, or the use of fixed actions patterns to implement reactivity

El sitio Web http://www.OpenResourceS.com es un centro de información sobre software libre. Desde sus comienzos se diseño para manejar gran cantidad de información que se recibe tanto automática como “manualmente” (con intervención humana directa). Además, el sistema de información subyacente gestiona todos los asuntos relativos a la publicidad (accounting, reporting, etc.), que es su principal fuente de financiación. La temática cubierta por el “sitio web” hizo que se considerara el uso de software libre como opción en su construcción, resultando además ser la opción más adecuada a las necesidades del mismo. Este artículo describe las herramientas utilizadas para la construcción de este sitio y el resultado final cuando todas trabajan juntas coordinadamente. También se discute la idoneidad de este tipo de software para el diseñoo de sistemas de publicación electrónica. Entre las herramientas utilizadas pueden destacarse el servidor Web Apache, el lenguaje PHP utilizado para generar dinamicamente páginas HTML, el buscador htdig, la herramienta GLOBAL de generación de código HTML a partir de ficheros escritos en diferentes lenguajes de programación, el gestor de foros w-ágora, o el generados de estadísticas analog. Para cada una de ellas se describe en primer lugar su funcionalidad, se resume la historia y estado actual de las mismas y se analizan las posibilidades de interrelación entre ellas

Este artículo se enmarca dentro del campo de las arquitecturas de cooperación entre robots. En concreto, el trabajo presenta un estudio comparativo del rendimiento de tres protocolos de comunicación borrosos entre dos robots autónomos

This paper presents an architecture for the control of autonomous systems that allows cooperation among them This paper focuses on the description of the upper layers of the model The control structure is based on a general purpose multi agent architecture based on a two levels approach One level is composed of reactive skills capable of achieving simple actions by their own The other one is an agenda used as an opportunistic planning mechanism to compound activate and coordinate the basic skills This agenda handles actions both from the internal goals of the robot or from other robots

When facing the problem of teaching the basis of robot control programming to computer science students, apart from the syllabus of the course, some other requirements have to be taken into account. For instance, which are the most appropriate robotic platforms, and which are the best programming tools for teaching it. In this paper we describe the platforms and programming environments chosen for different senior and graduate robotic courses at Rey Juan Carlos University, focusing on the reasons under our choices. We also point out the practical assignments demanded on the courses. Finally, we will present the results along four years, the feedback from our students, and the lessons we have learned

Mobile robots need to represent obstacles in their surroundings, even moving ones, to make right movement decisions. For higher autonomy the robot should automatically build such representation from its sensory input. This paper compares the dynamic character of several gridmap building techniques: probabilistic, fuzzy, theory of evidence and histogramic. Two criteria are defined to rank such dynamism in the representation: time to show a new obstacle and time to show a new hole. The update rules for first three such techniques hold associative property which confers them static character, inconvenient for dynamic environments. Major contribution of this paper is the introduction of two new approaches are presented to improve the perception of mobile obstacles: one uses a differential equation to update the map and another uses majority voting in a limited memory per cell. Their dynamisms are also evaluated and the results presented

Any device we want to be ab le connect to a global network should have an unique global identifier. The size of this identifier can be an unaceptable overhead for devices with limited resources (sensors, toys, disposable devices, microrobots, etc.), because conventional protocols use full addresses to transmit, process and store the data required for routing. The usual solution for such devices is to limit the address space to one or two bytes, but this sacrifices the global unicity of the identifiers. Another more drastic maesure is to without any routing at all

This special issue of the Journal of Physical Agents is devoted to multi-robot systems. Some might perhaps argue that the term should have been ”multi-agent systems” or ”physical multi-agent systems”, in accordance with the title of the journal. In any language, there are clusters of several words with closely similar meanings. Expressions in science and technology are no exceptions, although they are supposed to be more specific. In particular, in the world of computer science, the term ”agent” has become a buzzword and has to be combined with numerous adjectives to be correctly understood. This short introductory article will try to justify why the name was chosen for the journal, but not for this special issue, the intended scope of the journal and the contents of this issue

This paper presents an architecture for the control of autonomus agents that allows explicit cooperation among them. The structure of the software agents controlling the robots is based an a general purpose multi-agent architecture based on a two level approach. One level is composed of reactive skills capable of archieving simple actions by their own. The other is based an an agenda used as an opportunistic planning mechanism to compound, activate and coordinate the basic skills. This agenda handles actions both from the internal goals of the robot or from other robots. This paper describes the work already accomplished, as well as the issues arising from the implementation of the architecture and its use the RoboCup domain

El Workshop Hispano-Luso de Agentes Físicos pretende ser un foro de encuentro que permita el intercambio de información y experiencias relacionadas con la aplicación del concepto de agente en entornos físicos, especialmente en el control y coodinación de sistemas autónomos: robots, robots móviles, procesos industriales o sistemas complejos

Los últimos años se está detectando una bajada significativa en la matrículación de alumnos en las ingenierías en los países desarrollados. Esto nos ha hecho plantearnos la necesidad de fomentar las vocaciones científico-técnicas, para lo que hemos decidido aprovechar nuestra experiencia en el campo de la robótica. En concreto hemos organizado un campeonato de construcción de robots que denominamos RoboCampeones y que describimos en esta comunicación

"Sobre software libre" reune casi una treintena de ensayos sobre temas de candente actualidad relacionados con el software libre (del cual Linux es su ex- ponente más conocido). Los ensayos que el lector encontrará están divididos en bloques temáticos que van desde la propiedad intelectual o las cuestiones económicas y sociales de este modelo hasta su uso en la educación y las administraciones publicas, pasando por alguno que repasa la historia del software libre en los ultimos años y los problemas que tiene que enfocar en un futuro próximo como es el caso de las patentes de programación. La obra incluye además una serie de artículos calificados como seminales dentro del mundo del software libre y firmados por Richard Stallman, uno de los grandes gurus del movimiento del software libre. Este es un libro pensado para un publico objetivo muy amplio, no especificamente informáticos, sino también abogados, economistas, universitarios en general. Esto es así, porque la naturaleza de los contenidos, aunque técnica, está prin- cipalmente orientada en dar a conocer la vertiente más filosófica, sociológica y pragmática del software libre. En la actualidad no existe ninguna edición en nuestro idioma que permita a las personas interesadas (sobre todo las que no tienen una formación informática más allá de nivel de usuario) introducirse en la naturaleza y la filosofía del software libre, aún cuando esta temática está ganando en peso dentro y fuera del campo de la informática. Esta obra ha sido concebida en su mayor parte por un activo grupo de profesores de la Universidad Rey Juan Carlos de Madrid, uno de los grupos pioneros en la adopción y difusión del software libre en España

This paper concerns the learning of basic behaviors in an autonomous robot. It presents a method to adapt basic reactive behaviors using a genetic algorithm. Behaviors are implemented as fuzzy controllers and the genetic algorithm is used to evolve their rules. These rules will be formulated in a fuzzy way using prefixed linguistic labels. In order to test the rules obtained in each generation of the genetic evolution process, a real robot has been used. Numerical results from the evolution rate of the different experiments, as well as an example of the fuzzy rules obtained, are presented and discussed

DSR in one of the best known protocols for datagram routing in ad-hoc networks. It uses source routing, soeach datagram must carry the addresses of all the machines in its path. Under some circunstances, specially with the use of IPv6, headers size can become very big. In this paper we propose ADSR protocol, a modification of DSR that drastically reduces its headers size by using abbreviated addresses for the routing. This mechanism can lead to two different nodes having the same address, fact that we coll a collision and analyce in this work. We will also show some results about this protocol performance obtained by simulations implemented using the ns-2 network simulator

Java se ha convertido en poco tiempo gracias al empuje comercial de Sun Mi crosystems en el paradigma de una nueva forma de dise nar crear distribuir y utilizar el software En esencia Java es un lenguaje de programaci on orientado a objetos interpre tado portable con recolecci on de basura y soporte dentro del lenguaje para concurrencia y que soporta la interacci on entre objetos remotos Al amparo de estas ideas ha surgido todo un entorno de desarrollo y explotaci on de software que Sun denomina el entorno Java Java environment Este comprende el propio lenguaje Java un sistema operativo JavaOS bibliotecas de clases m aquinas virtuales capaces de interpretar el c odigo Java sobre distintas arquitecturas etc Adem as Sun y otros proveedores han ido generando diferentes herramientas APIs etc. que han dado lugar a un vocabulario propio con t erminos como JavaBeans JDBC AWT applets RMI etc . A lo largo del texto se encontrar an las de niciones de estos t erminos y la introducci on a sus fundamentos cr ticas y alabanzas a las ideas que se aportan ejemplos de uso referencias a la documentaci on y lugares en la red en los que se puede encontrar m as informaci on sobre los temas tratados Se abordar an diversos aspectos de Java desde la estructura b asica del lenguaje la historia de sus creadores y sus in uencias las bibliotecas gr a cas el acceso a bases de datos hasta el soporte para realizar aplicaciones distribuidas o la concurrencia en Java Se ha estructurado este art culo en tres bloques principales y que pueden leerse por separado En primer lugar se describen los fundamentos del lenguaje incluyendo el soporte gr aco en segundo lugar se presentan componentes m as espec cos como el acceso a bases de datos y los modelos de distribuci on y concurrencia y en tercer lugar se analizan desde una perspectiva cr tica algunos aspectos del dise no del lenguaje Java

El comportamiento de un robot autónomo viene determinado por el programa que gobierna sus actuaciones. La creación de programas para robots debe cumplir con ciertos requisitos específicos frente a la programación en otros entornos más tradicionales, como el ordenador personal. En este artículo planteamos que el software de los robots se estructura actualmente en tres niveles: sistema operativo, plataforma de desarrollo y aplicaciones concretas. En los últimos años, han surgido con fuerza plataformas de desarrollo con la idea de facilitar la construcción incremental de estas aplicaciones robóticas. Más allá del acceso básico a los sensores y actuadores, las plataformas suelen proporcionar un modelo para la organización del código y bibliotecas con funcionalidades comunes. En este artículo se identifican y analizan esos tres niveles, describiendo desde esta perspectiva los entornos de desarrollo de los robots reales más extendidos, y las tendencias más recientes

El presente artículo intenta dar una visión de las aportaciones que el software libre de dominio público puede hacer al campo de la investigación en informática, usando como ejemplo la rama de la Inteligencia Artificial. Para ello se describen las ventajas que aporta el software de libre distribución como filosofía general, a las disciplinas científicas en particular y en especial a las áreas relacionadas con las ciencias de la computación como la Inteligencia Artificial. Para ilustrar algunas de dichas aportaciones se utilizan distintos ejemplos, en especial el de los simuladores de libre distribución de las competiciones de robots autónomos inteligentes en el que trabajan los autores

Los robots están apareciendo en nuestra vida. Hace algún tiempo llegaron a las cadenas de montaje, pero hoy están llegando a nuestras casas. Lo están haciendo para una utilidad inesperada, la de hacer compañía a los humanos. Así, los primeros robots que nos vamos a encontrar en nuestra vida diaria serán las mascotas electrónicas, nuestros hijos los encontrarán en sus juguetes. Una de las caracteríssticas principales de estos robots precisamente es que están diseñados para interactuar con las personas, su finalidad es precisamente esa, relacionarse con los humanos. Por tanto, comienza a vislumbrarse un nuevo campo dentro de la interacción entre las personas y los computadores. En este artículo intentamos dar una visión general a las diferentes formas de interactuar con los robots, presentando sus características principales y proponiendo una clasificación de los mismos con el objetivo de divulgar este campo entre los investigadores preocupados por la interacción entre los ordenadores y sus usuarios

Manual systems require the user/programmer to directly enter the desired behaviour of the robot, usually using a graphical or text-based programming language, as shown in Fig. 1. Text-based systems are either controller-specific languages, generic procedural languages, or behavioural languages, which typically differ by the flexibility and method of expression of the system. Graphical languages [BKS02, BI01] use a graph, flow-chart or diagram based graphical interface to programming, sacrificing some flexibility and expressiveness for ease of use. The user/programmer has little or no direct control over the robot code in an automatic programming system, which may acquire the program by learning, programming by demonstration (PbD), or by instruction, as indicated in Fig. 2. Often automatic systems are used “online,” with a running robot, although a simulation can also be used. In this sidebar we will focus on the characteristics of commercial programming environments. Simple robots can be programmed directly using their own operating systems. More sophisticated robots include SDKs to simplify the programming of their robots. Mobile robots programming environments vs. industrial manipulators are also presented

In this paper a fuzzy interaction among robots in a group is presented as an alternative solution to the classical protocols used in architectures for the cooperation of robots. In order to achieve this goal, the integration of previous works carried out on fuzzy behaviors and on cooperative architectures at the Intelligent Agents Lab. (LAI) has been used. This cooperation/coordination protocol is necessary to successfully control a group of autonomous robots. The protocol will take into account the fuzzy controllers used in the design of the robots. Three different fuzzy protocols have been considered and tested, both in a simulator and in real robots. The results of the experiments carried out and the conclusions obtained are presented.

JDE is an ethology inspired architecture for designing applications both in autonomous and teleoperated robots. In this paper we will outline the JDE architecture, present some tools included in the JDE suite and show several examples of different applications built using it. Experiments carried out using this suite will be described and the obtained results discussed. We will make emphasis on the Graphical User Interfaces of the examples, like those in Fig. 1. JDE suite provides a exible way to build such interfaces and controls the execution time devoted to them in the applications. The GUIs provide visual objects to graphically command the actuators and to display the sensor data, like laser, sonar, encoders readings or images from robot cameras. Using them, JDE lets us operate and monitor different mobile robots where monitorization or tele-operation is required. The GUIs also allow the visualization of internal states and structures of the control program, and so they are a useful tool for debugging. JDE suite includes two socket servers (oculo and otos) which provide sensors readings and motor commands. These servers can be used both locally or remotely, which makes them really convenient for tele-operation and tele-supervision. They de ne a standard mes- sage protocol which eases the development of new applications and their portability across dfferent robot platforms

II Jornada Cátedra Telefónica: Jornada sobre Emprendimiento Social en el Envejecimiento

II Jornada Cátedra Telefónica: Jornada sobre Emprendimiento Social en el Envejecimiento

Comunicación en el Primer Workshop de Investigación en Tecnologías de Seguridad TIC (Fundación Sierra Pambley - León, 30 de noviembre de 2012)

El objetivo de este tutorial es describir los entornos de programación de robots móviles más comunes en la actualidad, sus caractererísticas y las tendencias más recientes. Actualmente el software de los robots móviles se estructura en tres niveles: sistema operativo, plataforma de desarrollo y aplicaciones concretas. Las plataformas de desarrollo han surgido los últimos años con la idea de facilitar la construcción incremental de estas aplicaciones robóticas. Suelen ofrecer una interfaz uniforme de acceso al heterogéneo hardware de los robots, una arquitectura software concreta y un conjunto de funcionalidades comunes listas para su reutilización

Video realizado por el equipo de la Cátedra Telefónica de la Universidad de León de Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación aplicadas al envejecimiento de la sociedad.

Video realizado por el equipo de la Cátedra Telefónica de la Universidad de León de Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación aplicadas al envejecimiento de la sociedad.

Video realizado por el equipo de la Cátedra Telefónica de la Universidad de León de Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación aplicadas al envejecimiento de la sociedad.

As robotic systems spread, cybersecurity emerges as major concern. Currently most research autonomous systems are built using the ROS framework, along with other commercial software. ROS is a distributed framework where nodes publish information that other nodes consume. This model simplifies data communication but poses a major threat because a malicious process could easily interfere the communications, read private messages or even supersede nodes. In this paper we propose that ROS communications should be encrypted. We also measure how encryption affects its performance.We have used 3DES cyphering algorithm and we have evaluated the performance of the system, both from the computing and the communications point of view. Preliminary results show that symmetric ciphers using private keys impose significant delays

—Using information from RGBD sensors requires huge amount of processing. To use these sensors improves the robustness of algorithms for object perception, self-localization and, in general, all the capabilities to be performed by a robot to improve its autonomy. In most cases, these algorithms are not computationally feasible using single-thread implementations. This paper describes two multi thread strategies proposed for self localize a mobile robot in a known environment using information from a RGBD sensor. The experiments will show the benefits obtained when different numbers of threads are compared, using different approaches: a pool of threads and creation/destruction scheme. The work has been carried out on a Kobuki mobile robot in the environment of the RoCKiN competition, similar to RoboCup@home